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About this project

Hi guys,

We've chosen to close this Kickstarter and move over to Patreon in the interim while we fix the rules and finalise the book. We'll be back! But for now, you can continue to back our project here: http://www.patreon.com/SoV

- Ed

About The Game:

Era: The Consortium is a sci-fi tabletop RPG, created by Shades of Vengeance with the aim of bringing you a high quality game and rulebook!

We want to give you something truly special, and we're going to spend the money to complete that something special, this project. But we want to to give you extra content on top of that if we possibly can!

"The Fluff" (Story):

Earth is a distant memory, all but forgotten, any remaining stories from the Human homeworld are now legends, handed down verbally. The Consortium stretches across three star systems, with twelve inhabited planets. Several wars have coloured the history of the Consortium, notably the Bug War between the Humans and Ximians; the events surrounding a raider named Shaun Hardcastle; and the conflict with the Resistance, which still continues. While the situation cannot be described as stable (as there are those who believe the Consortium is on the brink of civil war), in 447CE people do not live in fear of their lives on a day to day basis.

Despite the majority of the population having a good life, a Resistance movement has come into being. The members of this movement believe that most of the Big Eight are actively plotting the genocide of the aliens and have no care for how many Humans may be killed in the process. They accuse the Big Eight of attempting this atrocity, the only purpose of which is to increase their political power and has no relation to any perceived military threat from the aliens. The Resistance has already foiled one plot at the end of 446CE, which aimed to kill all life in the most alien-dominated of the three star systems, by using a previously unknown weapon of mass destruction.

The majority of the population of the Consortium is law abiding, having no interest in the conflict and concerning themselves solely with their work and leisure. Around them, the conflict continues…

Would you like to know more? Check out a 2-page summary of the game's 500-year story.

"The Crunch" (Gameplay):

"A rollercoaster! I was always expecting another Smertios Security soldier to run around the corner! I might not be the most seasoned of players, but the best RPG I ever played!" - Melissa, Playtester

The gameplay, using Shades of Vengeance's Era d10 Ruleset, is special because it is designed for simplicity.

This means that as a player you are not worrying about rules, you are focusing on playing your character; and as a GM you're not flicking through the rulebook every five seconds to find a specific rule for the circumstance.

As you become more skilled, you roll more dice (rather than adding modifiers), meaning you're not struggling with MATHS IN THE MIDDLE OF COMBAT - the number you're attempting to roll is based on action difficulty.

"An absolute beginner to tabletop games, I picked up the rules quickly and was having fun within half an hour on my first session!" - Lucy, Playtester

Project Background:

The rulebook itself contains the details of 500 years of Consortium history, allowing GMs and players to choose where in the epic story their adventure begins.

In addition to this and our GM and Players' guide in the rulebook, we've also created a really stellar (pardon the pun!) sci-fi comic, set within the Era: The Consortium universe: "The Last Stand of Stilleto Unit". This comic explains more background about the heroes of the Resistance.

Part 1 is already available (on the link above), and if we meet our stretch goal, most of you will receive Part 2 for free.

Application:

In addition, we're creating an application, initially on tabletop, which will assist with character creation. We need to hire someone from outside to finish the front-end, because we don't have the expertise in-house, and we'd love to make it both Android and iOS compatible as well!

Remaining Work:

There are some images remaining which need to be completed by our artists and some writing left to be done.

The first of the money from this Kickstarter will be used to help finish off everything while keeping the level of quality we've achieved up till now - something we prize highly.

The remainder of the money will go to the publishing cost of this 300 page full-colour rulebook.

The goal represents the absolute minimum we need to print the book.

Stretch Goals:

There is more we want to do than just complete it, but we've kept our eyes on the prize of getting this game done, and should we go over that mark? Stretch Goals of course!

10k: Funded!

15k: New comic! WEAPONS OUT and up, you'll receive an advance copy in PDF of our next comic! FREE!

25k: "The Secret War" - The Consortium and the Resistance don't always attack each other openly. Both sides use covert operatives... this will make those special operatives playable, along with special equipment!

30k: GET YOUR ARMOUR ON, MARINE! and up congratulations! You get a digital copy of the book as well.

35k: "The Fifth Race" - A new playable alien race will be added to the book.

37.5k: Upgraded autographs! We'll ship anyone who's getting an autographed copy around and get a few more signatures on it.

40k and above: We know Era: The Consortium is well worth this stretch and have a load of extra stuff ready when we get here.

Risks and challenges

When asked about risks, the one that stands out to me is the risk we took to improve the quality of the product.

We began, in December last year, with a very different level of quality to what you see now in mind. However, about 4 months into the project, we made a conscious decision to increase that quality significantly - effectively throwing away thousands of dollars of my own money! I feel this has worked very successfully - the images created by Victor, Sofia and the others clearly show that - but it's massivly increased the cost of the project, by as much as 4 times. As a result of this, I have been forced personally into some rather painful economies, spending all of my income apart from the rent on this project, all to give you guys the level of quality you deserve!

I've personally worked around 50 hours a week, every week, for this year (on top of my full-time job which has funded most of the project until this point!) to hire and manage the artists, do the designs, writing, quality and content control of the artwork, manage the project dependencies, playtest, creating and tweaking the rules, and dealing with the website and Facebook posts. As the project has gone on, I've been joined by other dedicated people, notably Ali Bigos and John Lewis, who've placed their lives on hold in order to make this project amazing.

I've taken other risks; risks on people who are perhaps considered less good by the creative community, or who didn't have the work to prove themselves, and I can't deny I've had some serious disappointments. Despite those, we've moved on and we've added some amazing people (some unexpectedly so!) to our team during the course of the project.

It's been a long, hard year. I wouldn't change it for anything, though, it's made Era: The Consortium something I am truly proud to have created.

FAQ

This is a software problem, I'm afraid. We currently have a ticket open with Kickstarter asking how to waive the International fees for these countries. Please bear with us while they look at this issue!

EDIT: I've been told the only solution is to add no shipping fee options and specify that only U.S. and Canada should pledge on them. I've done this, and I apologise for the inconvenience.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £5 or more
About $8

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping> WEAPONS OUT - You receive your choice of a limited edition pen or bookmark with the Consortium logo on it! In addition, you will receive ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £10 or more
About $16

THE SKY, FULL OF STARS - You receive a desktop wallpaper - one of the major images from the rulebook, such as the exciting "Last Stand of Stiletto Unit" or the picturesque "Kurmaja Park". The options will be made available to you after the Kickstarter finishes.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £30 or more
About $49

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping>
DRAFT CHARTER - EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! For the first people to order the printed book, there is a reduced price! Be the first to enjoy Era: The Consortium. In addition, you will receive ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £35 or more
About $58

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping>
CONSORTIUM CHARTER - You'll receive a physical copy of the book - shipped to you anywhere in the world! Enjoy Era: The Consortium. In addition, you will receive ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £40 or more
About $66

CONTINGENCY PLAN - You'll not only receive a physical copy of the book - shipped to you anywhere in the world (as per CONSORTIUM CHARTER), but also a digital copy, as per SENATE SEAT! Now you're prepared for anything.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £40 or more
About $66

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping> CONTINGENCY PLAN - You'll not only receive a physical copy of the book - shipped to you anywhere in the world (as per CONSORTIUM CHARTER), but also a digital copy, as per SENATE SEAT! Now you're prepared for anything.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £70 or more
About $115

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping> SEAL OF APPROVAL - You'll receive a copy of the book autographed by Ed Jowett, the creator of Era: The Consortium, and shipped to you anywhere in the world! Enjoy Era: The Consortium. In addition, you will receive ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £130 or more
About $214

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping> AND THE KITCHEN SINK - You'll receive SEAL OF APPROVAL, SENATE SEAT, GET YOUR ARMOUR ON, MARINE!, THE SKY, FULL OF STARS and WEAPONS OUT. In addition, you will receive ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £200 or more
About $329

TIME WITH THE CEO - You'll receive a unique opportunity: we'll arrange an hour of conversation with Ed Jowett, the creator of Era: The Consortium, during which he'll talk to you about the story and give you the chance to input ideas for the rulebook and future work!

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £500 or more
About $822

EVOLUTIONARY MUTATION - You'll receive a unique opportunity: we'll arrange for you to provide suggestions for the fifth alien race which we hope to add to the universe (either by stretch goal or at a later date).

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £1,000 or more
About $1,645

JOIN THE BIG SEVEN - You will receive all rewards from every previous tier (TIME WITH THE CEO and Race input, as specified in EVOLUTIONARY MUTATION). In addition, you will be able to choose to have a personalised story set in the universe or image created by one of the Consortium team's staff.

Kickstarter is not a store.

Pledge £1,000 or more
About $1,645

<U.S. or Canada ONLY! - No fee for shipping> JOIN THE BIG SEVEN - You will receive all rewards from every previous tier (TIME WITH THE CEO and Race input, as specified in EVOLUTIONARY MUTATION). In addition, you will be able to choose to have a personalised story set in the universe or image created by one of the Consortium team's staff.